Lichfield

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historic cathedral city in the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England
2. An English city in Staffordshire, known for its medieval cathedral with three spires and its literary associations
3. A town in the English West Midlands county of Staffordshire, noted for its gothic cathedral and as the birthplace of Samuel Johnson

Etymology: Lichfield is a cathedral city in Staffordshire, England, and its name is simply two Old English elements joined together. "Lich" was an Old English word for a corpse, and "field" is the familiar word for open land. The combination describes a place where the dead were laid to rest, so the name is a plain, literal description rather than a figure of speech. The "lich" element survives in English mostly through a few compounds, such as "lich-gate," the roofed gate of a churchyard where a coffin would rest before burial. That connection points the same way as the city's name: the land was associated with burial long before the cathedral rose there. The name therefore records an older use of the ground, long before any ecclesiastical building gave the city its prominence.